The Hindu : International : Terrorists' strategy is to hit "soft targets"

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 09, 2005

International

International

Terrorists' strategy is to hit "soft targets"

Duncan Campbell, Richard Norton-Taylor and Conal Urquart

Duncan Campbell, Richard

Norton-Taylor and Conal Urquart

LONDON: The strategy behind Thursday's attacks was to hit ``soft'' targets and cause maximum casualties rather than aim for high-profile locations or public figures.

As with the Madrid train attacks, rush-hour commuters were the target, the aim being to cause as many deaths as possible but also to allow the bombers to operate undetected.

There was no immediate indication that suicide bombers were involved.

``There is nothing to suggest anything other than conventional explosives,'' said Brian Paddick, the deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan police, in response to the question as to whether the dead included Al-Qaeda members. With about 1,500 police officers and senior security personnel sent to Gleneagles in Scotland, for the G8 summit, there was a shortage of specialist terrorism officers in the British capital. This left 31,000 other Metropolitan police in London, but the bombers would have seen that the police in the capital were stretched.

No bomb warnings were given, a pattern seen also in Istanbul in 2003 when the British consulate and a bank were attacked, and in Bali in 2002, when bombs exploded in a busy nightclub area.

While a few commentators speculated that London had become more of a target after its successful bid to stage the 2012 Olympics, it seems clear that the G8 meeting presented the prime target.

The bombings would appear to have been planned far in advance with a specific date in mind, much in the way that the IRA planned for months before the 1984 Brighton bomb attack which targeted the entire British Cabinet.

Al-Qaeda's method is not to give warnings, nor to claim responsibility at first. While the IRA used to give warnings so that a limited evacuation could take place, Al-Qaeda has always tried to cause as many casualties as possible.

The IRA used a code known to the police to claim responsibility for attacks, but Al-Qaeda's claims have been more difficult to authenticate, not least because a variety of different groups with ever-changing names have made claims.

David Capitanchik, a terrorism expert at Aberdeen University, Scotland, said the rush-hour explosions bore the hallmarks of Al-Qaeda. ``There's no doubt in my mind that this is the work of Al-Qaeda or one of its nodes. They would never target a military base or the G8 summit. They choose the soft targets, ordinary people going about their everyday business, to cause maximum terror.

``Their philosophy is: why attack a tiger when there are so many sheep? We saw this in Bali, in Madrid and, of course, [on] 9/11. Coordinated attacks on a grand scale with ruthless disregard for human life — it's absolutely typical of Al-Qaeda and their allies. They don't even need to use suicide bombers for this type of attack because it's so easy to get on and off a bus or train leaving a bag with explosives behind.''

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

International

News Update

Stories in this Section

G-8: massive boost to aid

London blasts killed 50: police

Terrorists' strategy is to hit "soft targets"

China, Japan offer help to fight terror

Many spoilers working to scuttle G-4 resolution

Egyptian envoy killed, says Al-Qaeda

Uzbekistan steps up pressure on U.S. to close base

Philippines political crisis deepens

In Mongolia, after Vajpayee

Global media organisations to visit Nepal

"Step up relations between China, Russia"

Barbaric: U.K. Hindu forum

"English, just another Indian language"